Spain's Farmaindustria stresses importance of biotechnology

Antoni Esteve, the president of Farmaindustria, Spain's research-based drug industry group, has outlined the importance of the biotechnology sector to the future of the pharmaceutical sector as a whole. Speaking at Biospain 2008, an international biotechnology conference held this year in Granada. He stated that one in five new drugs is the product of biotechnology R&D.

Mr Esteve, who is also president of the privately-held Laboratorios Esteve, noted that the pharmaceutical sector is already Spain's leading source of R&D funding. In 2007, Farmaindustria members contributed 922.0 million euros ($1.35 billion) to the search for innovative medicines, accounting for about 20% of all the R&D in the country.

However, there are opportunities as well as threats for the biotechnology sector, the Farmaindustria president noted. On the negative side, he listed rising R&D costs, access to medicines restrictions in emerging countries, increased regulatory and risk management concerns and the emerging generic competition, following the approval of post-patent biotechnology drugs, notably by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA; Marketletters passim). However, Mr Esteve said that the aging population, rising expectations for life-style quality, unmet medical needs and the "explosion" in demand for quality drugs from emerging markets are positive drivers for the pharmaceutical industry, including biotechnology firms.